TDT Congratulates FLL TechnoForce member on Spelling Bee Win!
Team Duct Tape is delighted to send congratulations to FLL TechnoForce member, Tommy, for his terrific win as champion of the Tampa Bay Spelling Bee Collaborative! TDT helps mentor TechnoForce, and TechnoForce has always been an encouraging and enthusiastic supporter of Team Duct Tape.
He’s competing this week in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington DC. You can read about Tommy at Creative Loafing and the St. Petersburg Times, and see his profile at the Scripps National Spelling Bee website.
Tommy is just one of 11 students from Florida competing at the national level. ESPN3 will be broadcasting the National Spelling Bee, starting Thursday, June 3, at 1:15 pm.
Rip it! Stick it! Done!
Go Tommy!
TDT Enjoys Outreach at Trinity Homeschool Center
TDT’s off-season schedule is already full with demos and FIRST outreach opportunities through June. Our first stop was the Trinity Homeschool Center in Tampa, which held an Open House for prospective students and their families, to introduce them to the variety of educational opportunities available to them.
Families and students enjoyed learning about FIRST opportunities and are looking into a 4H Science and Engineering club to
support their interests. They’re as yet undecided as to whether they’ll attempt an FLL team or go with a weekly LEGO engineering club, but either way, Team Duct Tape is happy to provide mentoring support and guidance on the homeschool group’s STEM education journey.
In a couple of weeks, we’ll be heading over to the THINK homeschool cooperative to check in with our friends, FLL team TechnoForce, and demo Cubie for students there.
TDT Takes the Cake and Eats it, too, thanks to GrannyBubba’s Bakery!
Many, many thanks to Grannybubba’s Bakery, of Land O’ Lakes, another great local business reaching out to Team Duct Tape with kindness and support. GrannyBubba’s growing reputation as a phenomenal local bakery understandably puts a high price on the cost of the beautiful custom cakes made by chef Christopher Moore. But when he learned more about Team Duct Tape and saw how much we value and return our community support, he went to great lengths to make sure TDT could afford a cake worthy of the celebration we wanted to throw for team members and families, and personally delivered the cake to our door!
GrannyBubba’s terrific Duct Tape cake made the party, too good looking to eat, but looking too good not to eat – so after giving it suitable admiration, we dug in – and weren’t disappointed! It tasted as great as it looked, and made a great kick off for an afternoon of fun, games and conversation.
We celebrated our graduates, too, two of whom are heading off to state colleges – the University of Florida and Florida Institute of
Technology, and one who’s staying closer to home and will be coaching FLL Team TechnoForce among other things. Our grads hope to be joining in some of our activities and outreach efforts when their schedules permit and we’re equally glad to show them off, so people see what FIRST Tech Challenge can help students accomplish.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be gearing up for the new season, too. We’ve got room for four new students, and would especially love to have some girls join Team Duct Tape this season. We’ve got a great line up up of activities and programs through the summer, including:
- coolTECH at MOSI on June 4 ,
- PTC/USERS World Event in June, in Orlando,
- YMCA LEGO Engineering camp, Bob Sierra YMCA in Northdale, the week of August 9 , and
- 2010 LIFE Fest education conference on Sept. 18 in Orlando at Orange County Extension Service
We’re also looking forward to our annual Independence Day Potluck in July, with more food and fun and friendship! Team Duct Tape is ready to roll for the 2010-11 season, heading into our third season with lots of experience and fresh insights, and ready to
see what FIRST has in store for us this year! If you’d like to be part of the fun, please visit “Be Part of Team Duct Tape” to learn more and apply!
Team Duct Tape 